Why I walked out on Robin Day - Telegraph Why I walked out on Robin Day By John Nott 12:00AM GMT 14 Mar 2002 John Nott famously walked out of an interview with Robin Day after he was called a 'here-today, gone-tomorrow politician'. Here he reflects on why he did it MOST politicians have five minutes of fame before they disappear for ever. My descent into obscurity was, however, suspended for several years as a result of walking out of a rather silly interview with the late Sir Robin Day. It seemed then, and still seems now, to have been an incident of utter triviality. But the BBC, as an entertainment medium, thrives on triviality, and it therefore thought fit over a period of almost 20 years to replay the conclusion of the interview repeatedly. It took place at the Conservative Party conference at Brighton in October 1982, shortly after the victory in the Falklands. I had made my valedictory address as Defence Secretary, which was followed by a standing ovation.

As the cheers and clapping echoed around the hall, I wished rather fervently that the delegates would resume their seats so that I could escape from the platform back to my farm in Cornwall - the conference being the annual low point of my political year. As I left the platform, some minion thrust a list of requested interviews into my hand. Foolishly, I decided to delay my departure by responding to one request, and I therefore found myself in the studios of the BBC. Related Articles We were heading for war...and the Commons blamed me 14 Mar 2002 Although my Defence Review in 1981 had created substantial controversy and a disagreement with the Royal Navy, in the euphoria following the Falklands victory I was for the first and last time in my entire political career something of a hero in the Conservative Party. Robin Day, poor fellow, whose own reputation was based on asking awkward questions, was in a jam. How was he to stir it up when the delegates had wilfully failed to play his game? So, he decided to create his own agenda.

As he questioned me, the major part of my brain was dwelling on my farm - the autumn colours, the conclusion of the harvest, the green fields of England - and here was this famous controversialist, desperately trying to generate a row out of something that, as far as I was concerned, was already part of history. My brain reacted: "What the hell? I don't need to sit here re-fighting the Defence Review with a journalist, however famous." So, I walked out. What caused this reaction? Here is a shortened version of the interview: Sir Robin Day: Mr Nott, is it not remarkable that, whereas in the conference agenda, there is resolution after resolution calling on you to re-think, re-assess, re-examine, reverse, re-appraise your defence policies in the light of the Falklands conflict, none of this came out? Do not many of the resolutions reflect the criticism publicly made by Admiral Sir Henry Leach, the First Sea Lord, saying that we've got to retain the three Invincible class anti-submarine carriers, we've got to improve the effectiveness of weapons and destroyers and frigates, and retain, you know, more of them?

John Nott: You'd hardly expect the First Sea Lord to say anything else, would you? RD: Sir Henry Leach said - and I apologise for quoting him again, but he'd been 45 years in the Navy and I suppose he knows something about it - "The cuts in the Royal Navy's budget plans are twice the Army cuts and seven times the RAF cuts." JN: The forward plans had to be trimmed because they were greater than the sum of money available. My task is to maintain a balance between all three services, and most expert opinion is of the view that we've probably got the balance about right. RD: But why should the public, on this issue, as regards the future of the Royal Navy, believe you, a transient, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician, rather than a senior officer of many years JN: I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview. Really, it's ridiculous. (EXIT the Secretary of State for Defence) RD: Thank you, Mr Nott.

As I wandered back among the mingling delegates, Michael Jopling, the Chief Whip, came up to me and said, "John, I hear you've caused a frightful commotion on the BBC." To which I replied, "Michael, I'm not sure why you say that. What am I meant to have done?" "Oh," he said, "you have walked out of an interview with Robin Day - I don't know that that will go down at all well, John." So, I said, "Well, Michael, you are just the Chief Whip and I do not think anyone is going to take much notice of your view of the matter!" He laughed and we parted. But soon, the story was filtering out among the delegates; I do not think either the assembled media or the delegates felt that it was an incident of any particular consequence, but they were all greatly entertained when the walk-out was played back on the evening news. I went back to my hotel to collect my bags and saw that assembled hacks were drinking, as normal, around the bar. So, I walked into the bar, where Robin Day was being given the most appalling ribbing by his media peers.

Going up to him, I said: "Robin, I quite enjoyed the incident. What about you?" It was perfectly clear to me that he was completely miserable about the whole affair. He felt, in some way, that he had let his profession down. I don't know why. According to my private secretary, David Omand, I received about 850 letters after the walk-out, with only about 20 or 30 saying I had behaved petulantly and should have had the professional skill to sit it out. The overwhelming view was that it was high time that Robin Day and all those other interviewers were given their comeuppance. But the irony is that I shall be remembered only for a media event, when I was - for a senior politician - almost uniquely unskilled at such things, and, indeed, rather contemptuous of the whole media charade. BBC NEWS John Nott John Nott was MP for St Ives from 1966 to 1983 and served in Margaret Thatcher's first government as trade secretary, and then as defence secretary during the Falklands War. He was knighted in 1983.

Nott famously walked out of an interview with Robin Day in 1982 after being referred to as a "here today, gone tomorrow" politician. He used the phrase as the title of his autobiography in 2002. He now farms in Cornwall. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BBC NEWS | UK | Sir Robin Day: 1923-2000 Monday, 7 August, 2000, 18:53 GMT 19:53 UK Sir Robin Day: 1923-2000 Robin Day: Scourge of politicians During the height of his career Sir Robin Day was widely regarded as Britain's finest political interviewer on television and radio. His long career first took off in the 1950s, and he will be remembered for shaking up the journalistic status quo and bringing in a new and less deferential approach to quizzing the nation's leaders. With his thick horn-rimmed spectacles and trade mark polka-dot bow tie, he was the great inquisitor. It was always his aim extract information from his subjects and he would ask basic questions which politicians sometimes seemed unwilling to answer.

He presented Panorama and chaired Question Time, and on radio was presenter of The World at One. During more recent election campaigns he presided over Election Call, in which leading politicians answered questions from the public. Verbal brilliance Robin Day wasn't without his critics. Some saw him as a ruthless and none too scrupulous prosecuting counsel who bullied his interviewees. Sir Robin was greatly honoured by his profession But under a somewhat brusque and at times peremptory outward manner he was a sincere, dedicated and kindly man. He had great verbal skills, a wonderful sense of timing and an encyclopaedic memory, though he wasn't an outstanding presenter - until recently he coughed and wheezed too much for that, mainly because of his liking for cigars, which he smoked for many years. The son of a telephone engineer, who eventually became the telephone manager at Gloucester, Robin Day went to the Crypt School, in Gloucester. Later he was sent to Bembridge School in the Isle of Wight, but in 1940 the school was transferred to Coniston in the Lake District. Breakthrough with ITN After war service in the Royal Artillery, Day went to St.

Edmund Hall, Oxford, and in 1950 became President of the Oxford Union. He read law, and after graduating, became a barrister for a short period - he was called to the Bar in 1952. It was journalism, however, that attracted him. He went to the United States to work for the British Information Services in Washington, worked as a freelance for a time, and in 1955 became a BBC Radio talks producer. Commercial television was about to begin around that time, and ITN were looking for newscasters. Robin Day and Christopher Chataway were the first two. Day soon did his first live interview, and two years after joining ITN, he was named personality of the year by the Guild of Television Producers. It was around that time that he got his great scoop - an interview with President Nasser of Egypt - the first British reporter to talk to him after Suez. Political ambitions In 1959 he failed to get into Parliament when he stood as Liberal candidate at Hereford in the General Election. He returned to television, this time with the BBC, and it was then that he began to build a reputation as the scourge of prime ministers and countless politicians.

In 1979 he turned his hand to radio as presenter of The World at One, but continued to work in television where his Question Time - originally intended to run for only a few months - became a highly popular programme. He chaired it for 10 years until June 1989. Robin Day also attended nearly all the party conferences, and was the principal commentator on the televised proceedings, as well as conducting many interviews. Prickly questioner His interviews could be unpredictable, and sometimes had an air of tension. In October 1982, while interviewing the Defence Minister, John Nott, during a Conservative Party conference, Day was pursuing a line of questioning about defence cuts, when the minister objected to the questions and walked out. During the 1983 election campaign there was a somewhat prickly interview with Mrs Thatcher, in which she persisted in calling him Mr Day, though he had been knighted two years earlier. Sir Robin's bow ties were his trademark But his work won him many honours, including the Richard Dimbleby award for factual television in 1974, and the Broadcasting Press Guild award for Question Time in 1980.

In 1985 he had a multiple heart by-pass operation, and returned to broadcasting three months later, looking slimmer and fitter. Off-screen Sir Robin was an extremely witty after-dinner speaker. He wrote a number of books, among them The Case for Televising Parliament, published in 1963, and an autobiography, Day by Day. He was married for 20 years and divorced in 1985. His two sons live in Australia. Sir Robin was knighted in the 1981 New Years Honours. It was a popular choice. Key Stories: Robin Day - Biography - IMDb Robin Day Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (1) | Trivia (5) Overview (3) The Grand Inquisitor Mini Bio (1) Robin Day was born on October 24, 1923 in London, England. He was an actor, known for Question Time (1979), Panorama (1953) and A Question of Europe (1975). He was married to Kathryn Ainslie.

He died on August 6, 2000 in London. Spouse (1) Spotted bow tie and handkerchief Trivia (5) He stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Hereford in 1959. He conducted a controversial interview with Egyptian leader Colonel Nasser over the Suez crisis. Controversial interview with the Defence Minister Sir John Nott after the Falklands War (1982). The minister walked out on live TV after being called a "here today, gone tomorrow politician" compared to career soldiers. Political interviewer, knighted in 1981. He was portrayed by Paul Ritter in the play "The Reporter", which opened at the National Theatre in London, in February 2007. It was written by Nicholas Wright , directed by Richard Eyre and focused on the life (and death) of the BBC correspondent James Mossman who worked with him throughout the 1960s.

See also Robin Day - Wikispooks Robin Day A fringe event for One World Action at Labour's 1997 conference, chaired by Sir Robin Day and addressed by [[Tony Blair |Cherie and Tony Blair]]= Born Katherine Ainslie Sir Robin Day's obituary in The Guardian stated that "he was the most outstanding television journalist of his generation. He transformed the television interview, changed the relationship between politicians and television, and strove to assert balance and rationality into the medium's treatment of current affairs". [1] Sir Robin's death on 6 August 2000 came three months into the Lockerbie trial which resulted on 31 January 2001 in the acquittal of Lamin Khalifah Fhimah and the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi , who was sentenced to 27 years in prison. [2] Contents 10 External links Early life and education Robin Day was the son of a telephone engineer who became telephone manager at Gloucester. He attended Brentwood School from 1934 to 1938, [3] briefly attended The Crypt School, Gloucester, and later Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight.

War service Robin Day served with the army in east Africa, where he reached the rank of Captain but was demoted to Lieutenant as part of a cull of rear-echelon jobs. University and the Bar After the War, Robin Day attended St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and, while a student, was elected president of the Oxford Union debating society. Day also took part in a debating tour of the United States, run by the English-Speaking Union. He was called to the Bar in 1952, but practised only briefly. In his memoirs he recorded that he secured the acquittal of a lorry-driver accused of indecent exposure by persuading the magistrates that the man had been "shaking the drops from his person" after urinating, and by getting the man's young wife to testify, wearing a tight sweater, that she and her husband enjoyed a healthy love life. Politics In the 1959 General Election Robin Day stood as a Liberal Party candidate for Hereford but failed to win. Media Robin Day spent almost his entire working life in journalism.

He rose to prominence on the new Independent Television News (ITN) from 1955, when he was the first British journalist to interview Egypt's President Nasser after the Suez Crisis. On television, he presented Panorama and chaired the BBC 's Question Time (1979–89), and on radio was presenter of The World at One from 1979 to 1987. His incisive and sometimes – by the standards of the day – abrasive interviewing style, together with his heavy-rimmed spectacles and trademark bow tie, made him an instantly recognisable and frequently impersonated figure over five decades. He became known in British broadcasting as 'the Grand Inquisitor' for his abrasive interviewing of politicians, a style out of keeping with the British media's culture of deference to authority that prevailed during the early days of his career. In 1958 he interviewed Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, in what the Daily Express called: "the most vigorous cross-examination a prime minister has been subjected to in public". The interview turned Macmillan into a television personality, and was probably the first time that British television became a serious part of the political process.

In the early 1970s, Robin Day was involved on BBC Radio, where he proved an innovator with It's Your Line (1970–76). This was a national phone-in programme that enabled ordinary people, for the first time, to put questions directly to the prime minister and other politicians (it later spawned Election Call). He also presented The World At One, from 1979 to 1987. In 1981, he was knighted for his services to broadcasting. In October 1982, during an interview with the Conservative Secretary of State for Defence John Nott, pursuing cuts in defence expenditure, he posed the question: "But why should the public, on this issue, as regards the future of the Royal Navy , believe you, a transient, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician, [a reference to Nott's announcement that he was to stand down at the next General Election] rather than a senior officer of many years?" Nott rose, removed his microphone, and said "I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview. Really, it's ridiculous" and walked off the set.

Nott's autobiography in 2003 was called Here Today Gone Tomorrow: Recollections of an Errant Politician. Robin Day was a regular fixture on all BBC Election Night programmes from the 1960s until 1987. After leaving Question Time, he moved to the new British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) service where he presented the weekly political discussion programme Now Sir Robin. When BSB merged with Sky Television in November 1990, the programme continued to be broadcast on Sky News for a while. [4] On the night of the 1992 General Election, Sir Robin Day resumed his role as interviewer, this time on ITN's Election Night coverage, broadcast on ITV. In the mid-90s, Sir Robin Day regularly contributed to the lunchtime Channel Four political programme Around the House and also presented Central Lobby for Central TV, the ITV franchise in the Midlands. The show was sometimes broadcast at the same time as his old programme, Question Time was being shown on BBC One.

The Apartheid Question On February 25, 1988 British diplomat Patrick Haseldine was a member of the invited studio audience of BBC 's Question Time which began transmission at 22:00. Fifteen minutes into the programme a student raised a question about that day's outlawing of 17 anti-apartheid organisations, and asked whether the British government was justified in its opposition of economic sanctions against South Africa in the face of calls for sanctions by Nelson Mandela , Bishop Tutu and by most of the European Community. The Question Time panel (Shirley Goodwin of the Health Visitors Association, Sir Russell Johnston - Liberal party spokesman on foreign affairs, Michael Meacher MP - Labour's shadow employment secretary and Michael Portillo MP junior minister at the DHSS) discussed the matter for nine minutes before the host Sir Robin Day asked if anyone in the audience had anything to add.

Patrick Haseldine speaking with Sir Robin Day on Question Time Without identifying himself, Haseldine intervened in the discussion and posed the following question: "Now that peaceful opposition has been outlawed in South Africa what active measures should Britain (the leading investor and major trading partner) take to avoid the seemingly inevitable violent upheaval which will ensue in South Africa?" Sir Robin asked what measures Haseldine had in mind and, because no suggestions were forthcoming, put the question back to the panel. Their discussion was then prolonged by a further three minutes until 22:30 when Sir Robin asked the audience to raise their hands if they were in favour of economic sanctions against South Africa. Haseldine was on camera as a large majority of the audience voted for sanctions. As a result of his Question Time appearance, Haseldine was suspended from his job in FCO 's Defence Department for six months. [5] After his return to the FCO , Patrick Haseldine wrote a letter to The Guardian on December 7, 1988 criticising PM Margaret Thatcher 's policy towards South Africa .

Upon publication of the letter, the FCO again suspended Haseldine, sent him a letter of complaint in accordance with diplomatic service regulation (DSR) number 20 and scheduled an internal FCO disciplinary hearing to take place on February 28, 1989. In advance of this hearing, Haseldine wrote on January 23, 1989 to Sir Robin Day asking for a video recording of the programme in which he had appeared. The editor of Question Time, Barbara Maxwell , sent him Sir Robin's own VHS copy together with a covering letter sympathising with his predicament. Haseldine attended the FCO hearing with his solicitor, Pamela Walsh, and brought along the video – extracts of which were screened there. The disciplinary board's questioning was largely focused on the Guardian letter and Haseldine was repeatedly asked to divulge the source of the information in the letter. However, because he had been led to believe he was under an Official Secrets Act, 1911 criminal investigation, he refused to be drawn on the matter lest he incriminate himself in advance of the trial.

The disclipinary board reported on March 7, 1989 to the Permanent Under-Secretary (PUS) at the FCO . In the unpublished report, the board said its task was defined solely by DSR 20 and the letter of complaint, which excluded consideration of the Question Time issue, and it agreed unanimously that the only appropriate penalty in Haseldine's case was enforced resignation or dismissal. On March 21, 1989 the PUS wrote to Haseldine saying he should resign by – or be dismissed on – April 4, 1989 when payment of his salary would cease. Haseldine appealed against this decision in a letter dated March 22, 1989 to the foreign secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe. At the start of the summer parliamentary recess on July 19, 1989 Sir Geoffrey Howe's private secretary, Stephen Wall, wrote informing Haseldine that his appeal had been rejected and that he should submit his resignation by August 2, 1989 or be dismissed on that date.

He did not resign and the private secretary wrote again on August 4, 1989 (four days after Sir Geoffrey Howe had been demoted and replaced as foreign secretary by John Major ) confirming that Haseldine had in fact been dismissed from the Diplomatic Service on August 2, 1989. [6] Televising Parliament For 25 years he campaigned tirelessly, and eventually successfully, for the televising of Parliament - not in the interests of television, but of Parliament itself. He claimed that he was the first to present the detailed arguments in favour, in a Hansard Society paper in 1963. [7] Comedy portrayals Monty Python's Flying Circus often used Sir Robin Day as a reference, including the 'Eddie Baby' sketch in which John Cleese turns to the camera and states: 'Robin Day's got a hedgehog called Frank.' In another sketch, Eric Idle said he was able to return his 'Robin Day tie' to Harrod's. He was also spoofed (as "Robin Yad") on The Goodies episode Saturday Night Grease.

Sir Robin appeared as himself on an instalment of the Morecambe & Wise show, in which he berates Ernie Wise in character. Then Eric Morecambe, acting as a TV presenter, says, "Sadly, we've come to the end of today's "Friendly Discussion with Robin Day". He was also frequently lampooned by the satirical TV programmme Spitting Image. In this, his most famous examples of lampoonery were his interviews with the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and how she would always give an answer somewhat vague to the question, and his breathing difficulties which affected him later in life. "My name is Robin (deep breath) Day!" Personal life In 1965, Robin Day married Katherine Ainslie, an Australian law don at St Anne's College, Oxford, and they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 1986. One of the tragedies of his life was that his elder son never fully recovered from the effects of multiple skull fractures he sustained in a childhood fall. In the 1980s, Day had a coronary bypass, and he suffered from breathing problems that were often evident when he was on the air. He had always fought against a tendency to put on weight.

As an undergraduate, he weighed 108 kilos and claimed that, in the course of his life, he had succeeded in losing more weight than any other person. Day had problems relating to women. The broadcaster Joan Bakewell recalled that whilst he was professional when in the office: "Socially he was a menace. There was no subtlety in his manner: at office parties he would attack head on. 'Do the men you interview fancy you? Do they stare at your legs? Do they stare at your breasts? Do you sleep with many of them?' ... Whenever he loomed in sight, I made myself scarce" [8] His funeral was a cremation service at Mortlake Crematorium. His ashes are interred near the south door of Whitchurch Canonicorum parish church in Dorset. The memorial stone has the words: "In loving memory of Sir Robin Day the Grand Inquisitor" upon it. Day published two autobiographies: 'Day by Day' in 1975 and 'Grand Inquisitor' in 1989.

References ↑ Robin Day, (1963) The Case for Televising Parliament (London: Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government) ↑ Joan Bakewell The Centre of the Bed: An Autobiography, 2003, Sceptre, p.234-5 External links Learn and talk about Robin Day, Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, BBC newsreaders and journalists, British Army personnel of World War II, British reporters and correspondents Early life[ edit ] He was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb , London, the son of a telephone engineer who became a telephone manager. He attended Brentwood School from 1934 to 1938, [4] briefly attended the Crypt School , Gloucester , and later Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight . During and after World War II , between 1943 and 1947, he served with the army in East Africa, where he reached the rank of Captain but was demoted to Lieutenant as part of a cull of rear-echelon jobs. After the war Day attended St Edmund Hall, Oxford , and, while a student, was elected president of the Oxford Union debating society.

Day also took part in a debating tour of the United States, run by the English-Speaking Union . He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1952, but practised only briefly. In his memoirs he recorded that he secured the acquittal of a lorry-driver accused of indecent exposure by persuading the magistrates that the man had been "shaking the drops from his person" after urinating, and by getting the man's young wife to testify, wearing a tight sweater, that she and her husband enjoyed a healthy love life.[ page needed ] Media[ edit ] Day spent almost his entire working life in journalism. He rose to prominence on the new Independent Television News (ITN) from 1955, when he was the first British journalist to interview Egypt 's President Nasser after the Suez Crisis . On television, he presented Panorama and chaired Question Time (1979–89), and on radio was presenter of The World at One from 1979 to 1987.

His incisive and sometimes – by the standards of the day – abrasive interviewing style, together with his heavy-rimmed spectacles and trademark bow tie , made him an instantly recognisable and frequently impersonated figure over five decades. He became known in British broadcasting as 'the Grand Inquisitor' for his abrasive interviewing of politicians, a style out of keeping with the British media's culture of deference to authority that prevailed during the early days of his career. In 1958 he interviewed Prime Minister Harold Macmillan , in what the Daily Express called: "the most vigorous cross-examination a prime minister has been subjected to in public". The interview turned Macmillan into a television personality, and was probably the first time that British television became a serious part of the political process. In the early 1970s, Day was involved on BBC Radio , where he proved an innovator with It's Your Line (1970–76). This was a national phone-in programme that enabled ordinary people, for the first time, to put questions directly to the prime minister and other politicians (it later spawned Election Call). He also presented The World at One , from 1979 to 1987.

In 1981, he was knighted for his services to broadcasting. In October 1982, during a Newsnight interview with the Conservative Secretary of State for Defence John Nott , pursuing cuts in defence expenditure , he posed the question: "But why should the public, on this issue, as regards the future of the Royal Navy , believe you, a transient, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician, [a reference to Nott's announcement that he was to stand down at the next General election] rather than a senior officer of many years?" Nott rose, removed his microphone, and said "I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview. Really, it's ridiculous" and walked off the set. Nott's autobiography in 2003 was called Here Today Gone Tomorrow: Recollections of an Errant Politician. He was a regular fixture on all BBC general election night programmes from the 1960s until 1987. After leaving Question Time, he moved to the new satellite service BSB where he presented the weekly political discussion programme Now Sir Robin.

When BSB merged with Sky Television, the programme continued to be broadcast on Sky News for a while. On the night of the 1992 General Election , Day resumed his role as interviewer, this time on ITN's general election night coverage, broadcast on ITV. In the mid-90s, he regularly contributed to the lunchtime Channel Four political programme Around the House and also presented Central Lobby for Central TV, the ITV franchise in the Midlands. The show was sometimes broadcast at the same time as his old programme, Question Time was being shown on BBC One. For 25 years he campaigned tirelessly, and eventually successfully, for the televising of parliament – not in the interests of television, but of parliament itself. He claimed that he was the first to present the detailed arguments in favour, in a Hansard Society paper in 1963. [5] Monty Python's Flying Circus often used Day as a reference, including the 'Eddie Baby' sketch in which John Cleese turns to the camera and states: 'Robin Day's got a hedgehog called Frank.' In another sketch, Eric Idle said he was able to return his 'Robin Day tie' to Harrods .

He was also spoofed (as "Robin Yad") on The Goodies' episode Saturday Night Grease . Day appeared as himself on an instalment of the Morecambe & Wise show, in which he berates Ernie Wise in character. Then Eric Morecambe , acting as a TV presenter, says, "Sadly, we've come to the end of today's "Friendly Discussion with Robin Day". He was also frequently lampooned by the satirical TV programme Spitting Image . In this, his most famous examples of lampoonery were his interviews with the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and how she would always give an answer somewhat vague to the question, and his breathing difficulties which affected him later in life. "My name is Robin (deep breath) Day!" Day published two autobiographies; 'Day by Day' in 1975 and 'Grand Inquisitor' in 1989. Personal life[ edit ] In 1965, Day married Katherine Ainslie, an Australian law don at St Anne's College, Oxford , and they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 1986.

One of the tragedies of his life was that his elder son never fully recovered from the effects of multiple skull fractures he sustained in a childhood fall. In the 1980s, Day had a coronary bypass, and he suffered from breathing problems that were often evident when he was on the air. He had always fought against a tendency to put on weight. As an undergraduate, he weighed 17 st 0 lb (108 kg; 238 lb), and claimed that, in the course of his life, he had succeeded in losing more weight than any other person. The broadcaster Joan Bakewell recalled that whilst he was professional when in the office: "Socially he was a menace. There was no subtlety in his manner: at office parties he would attack head on. 'Do the men you interview fancy you? Do they stare at your legs? Do they stare at your breasts? Do you sleep with many of them?' ... Whenever he loomed in sight, I made myself scarce" [6] His funeral was a cremation service at Mortlake Crematorium . His ashes are interred near the south door of Whitchurch Canonicorum parish church in Dorset .

The memorial stone has the words: "In loving memory of Sir Robin Day the Grand Inquisitor" upon it. Original courtesy of Wikipedia: — Please support Wikipedia. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia . A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. We're sorry, but there's no news about "Robin Day" right now. Limit to books that you can completely read online Include partial books (book previews) Oops, we seem to be having trouble contacting Twitter Support Wikipedia A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. Please add your support for Wikipedia! Searchlight Group Digplanet also receives support from Searchlight Group. Visit Searchlight Copyright © 2009-2017 Digparty. All rights reserved. Sir Robin Day - Telegraph Sir Robin Day 12:00AM BST 08 Aug 2000 Broadcaster who revolutionised current affairs and political reporting and wearing his hallmark bowtie SIR ROBIN DAY, who has died aged 76, revolutionised the handling of current affairs and political reporting on the air. He gave independence, character and integrity to political discussions and interviewing on television.

He believed the medium was crucial to the democratic process and he despised the tendency to trivialise news coverage and to put too much emphasis on the visually dramatic. It is difficult today to imagine the pre-Day era, when the BBC was still dominated by a more formal, deferential Reithian tradition. Commentaries tended to be uncritical and interviews steered clear of controversy. The contrast between the old style and the new developed by Day was exemplified when Richard Dimbleby and Day - then working for the newly formed Independent Television News - did simultaneous commentaries for the first televised State Opening of Parliament in 1963. It was Day's first experience of anything on this scale and an awe-inspiring one. But rather than seeking to emulate the Grand Master of state occasions, young Day struck out on his own. While Dimbleby was, as ever, solemn and reverential, Day applied a lighter touch. His slightly breathless tone of voice, with an occasional whimsical aside or mildly irreverent comment on the more arcane aspects of the ceremony, much enlivened his account.

He showed no less respect than Dimbleby for the solemnity and historical significance of the ceremony nor, despite his comparative inexperience, any less grasp of its complexities. But he conveyed something of the feelings an ordinary person seeing it for the first time might have. These qualities were the key to Day's success in what was his main field, political interviewing and commenting. He prepared for each assignment with immense diligence and he had a flair for asking questions, awkward or not, that the intelligent viewer would like put and answered. On election night in 1966, Day tried to put Harold Wilson, the Labour leader, on the spot. "A lady from SE23 wants a straightforward yes or no: 'Will Mr Wilson give a definite yes or no. After 17 months of watered-down socialism, can we expect the full dose if Labour gets a big majority?' No prevarication please!" Perhaps the most memorable example of Day's direct style of questioning came in 1982, during an interview with John Nott, then defence secretary. The interview took place during the Tory Party conference, the first since the Falklands War, and Day asked Nott about much-criticised cuts in the naval budget.

Pressing his attack, Day asked: "Why should the public on this issue believe you, a transient, here today and, if I may say so, gone tomorrow politician rather than a senior officer of many years' experience?" A furious Nott tore the microphone from his lapel, and walked out. Behind Day's skill as a journalist lay a deep study of political history. He would also attend Commons debates, often just to look on. And unlike so many television presenters, he never fell into the trap of regarding himself or his views as more important than those of the interviewee. Yet, paradoxically, Day created for himself a strong television persona. With his quiff of hair, heavy horn-rimmed glasses and polka-dot bow tie, he became better known, and certainly more durable, than most politicians. He first wore the bow tie as a young newsreader on ITN, to the shock of more conventionally minded viewers. "I just laughed," he said in response to comment, "and then it occurred to me that wearing one established a more relaxed atmosphere. People commented on it immediately." It became his hallmark for the rest of his life.

Robin Day was born on Oct 24, 1923, in Hampstead Garden Suburb, the son of a teetotal telephone engineering executive. Aged five, Robin had whooping cough. "King George V was very ill at the time," he recalled, "and it was considered socially OK to be sick." He ran away from Henrietta Barnett kindergarten on his first day. But from his grammar school at Brentwood, where the family had moved, he won a scholarship to Bembridge school on the Isle of Wight, an unconventional institution founded in revolt against public school orthodoxy. Bembridge sought to give a broad education, encouraging interest in current affairs rather than the classics, as well as encouraging uninhibited debating. This, and his father's fascination with politics, prepared Robin for his future career. From 1943 to 1947, he served in the Royal Artillery. He sailed to the East on VE Day and arrived there on VJ Day but, while in East Africa, learnt Swahili. He then went up to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he rapidly established himself as one of the characters of his generation. He became an accomplished Union debater.

Already a keen gastronome, Day weighed 17.5 stone and was advised by a doctor to lose weight. He lost four stone and became President of the Union in 1950. He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1952. Although he soon concluded that he was never going to be a particularly good barrister, the Bar proved an invaluable training for his role as television inquisitor; at times he could sound like prosecuting counsel. Day then went to America, lecturing for the British Information Services, and worked as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. Aidan Crawley, the first editor-in-chief of ITN, picked Day from scores of applicants to be its first newsreader and parliamentary correspondent. In 1959, he had to resign from ITN when he decided to stand as a Liberal in that year's election. After failing to win Hereford, he joined the News Chronicle before moving to the BBC. By the time he retired, he had featured in or presented every major television current affairs programme, including 24 Hours, Tonight, Gallery and Panorama. For some years he combined this with radio, notably presenting The World at One.

Among his many notable television coups were the first live questioning of a Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Horace King. He was also the first British commentator to be invited to take part in American televising of a presidential (Nixon's) inauguration. Another triumph was Question Time, in which he presided over a panel of four distinguished personalities answering questions from the studio audience. It could have been just another panel programme but, in partnership with Barbara Maxwell, the producer, Day transformed it, devising the format and shrewdly choosing panellists appropriate to the events of the week. Day presided over it like a genial impresario - relaxed, with eyes twinkling, skilfully guiding the panel and audience to the real point of the issues under discussion. Sometimes he would pose a pertinent question overlooked by the audience or pounce on a glib or misleading reply from a guest. Day was an energetic attender of parties, where his heavy flirtatiousness was often in evidence. His sociability perhaps reflected an underlying loneliness.

He published two autobiographical books, Day by Day: A Taste of My Own Hemlock (1975) and Grand Inquisitor (1989). In 1981, he published Television: a Personal Report. In 1999, came Speaking for Myself, speeches he had made on various occasions. A collection of Day's 16 most memorable television encounters, But With Respect, had come out in 1993. Perhaps the most frank of all the interviewees appearing in the book was Viscount Lambton. To Day's question: "Why should a man of your social position and charm and personality have to go to whores for sex?", Lord Lambton replied: "I think that people sometimes like variety. I think it's as simple as that and I think that impulse is probably understood by almost everybody, don't you?" Day was knighted in 1981 for his services to television journalism but declared himself quite untroubled when Mrs Thatcher, in a general election interview of 1983, addressed him throughout the proceedings as Mr Day.

Interviewing John Major during the election campaign in April 1992, Day asked the Prime Minister what had happened to the soap box he used to speak from in his younger days in Brixton. The reappearance of the soap box a few days later was thought by some to be one of Mr Major's best election tricks. The next year, it was at Day's suggestion that Mr Major abandoned the autocue for his speech to the Tory Party conference. "I've decided to take the great man's advice," he said. Day received many awards, notably the Bafta award for factual television in 1974. An enthusiastic skier and swimmer, he had to curtail both activities after serious heart surgery in the mid-Eighties. Robin Day remained a bachelor until he was 41 when, in 1965, he married Katherine Ainslie, an Australian barrister. They had two sons but the marriage was dissolved in 1986. BFI Screenonline: Day, Robin (1923-2000) Biography and, later, the BBC were forced to get off their knees to politicians. Robin Day transformed the television interview and changed forever the relationship between politicians and the media.

Following boarding school education at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, he went up to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, to read law and, at the age of 27, was president of the Oxford Union. Called to the Bar in 1952, he resigned after two years and spent a year with the British Information Services in Washington before returning to Britain in 1955 to become one of the first TV news presenters (and parliamentary correspondent) at ITN. The other presenter was the former international athlete Christopher Chataway , and it was said that Day was chosen to balance Chataway's popularity and good looks. It was the age of the respectful, often insipid, television interview when Day became the first interviewer to cast aside the deferential broadcast style by being firm yet courteous, tenacious but civil. The turning point came in a January 1956 broadcast when he subjected ITA chairman Sir Kenneth Clark (his employer) to a cross-examination about ITN's decreasing budget and threatened abridgement of the news bulletin.

There followed a number of historic interviews, establishing Day's reputation: with President Nasser of Egypt in Cairo in June 1957, at a time following the Suez crisis when Britain and Egypt were technically still at war; the vigorous 1958 interview with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan concerning criticism of Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd . It was perhaps the first time that television became a serious part of the political process. Although greatly enjoying his work as parliamentary correspondent of ITN, his passionate interest in British politics led him to resign and stand as a Liberal candidate for Hereford in the 1959 general election, but he failed to win the seat. Invited to join (BBC, 1953- ) in late 1959, during the momentous Richard Dimbleby era when the team of reporters consisted of Robert Kee and John Morgan , Day's role was to conduct major (live) interviews or make filmed reports from some overseas hotspot. He remained with Panorama for twenty years, alternating with Newsday (BBC, 1974-78) and Tonight (BBC, 1957-65; 1975-79) as presenter.

However, the BBC, rather short-sightedly, never really made the best use of his talents, except at election times (where he displayed his full talent as grand inquisitor). It was soon evident that his most satisfying work in television came with Question Time (BBC, 1979- ), a home screen version of the long-running radio series Any Questions. Though slotted late at night, initially as a six-month 'filler', the programme was, at long last, his own show, and instantly became one of the most effective current affairs series on television. By now a national figure, the bow-tied, bespectacled inquisitor (occasionally hunched forward with narrowing eyes to target his question) began his new career at about the same time as that of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . Their exchanges were often lively, a tough and relentless, fair and witty joust enjoyed by both parties. While displaying a presence of immense authority, Question Time also revealed his peculiar, somewhat offbeat charm and an amusing sense of showmanship.

His questioning technique was finely honed by the time the programme was launched and, while often criticised for appearing to be aggressive, acerbic and generally unpleasant, he stuck firmly to his belief that an interview should be a constructive contribution to the democratic process, clarifying and illuminating. Reminiscent of Winston Churchill recounting his 1930s, he once described his pre-Question Time period as "10 years in the wilderness". In October 1982 came the infamous walk-out interview he attempted to conduct with Defence Secretary John Nott (for Nationwide , tx. 5/10/1982) regarding defence cuts during the Falklands crisis in which he called Nott a "here-today, gone-tomorrow politician". The outraged politician stormed out of the studio while Day was heard saying "Thank you, Mr. Nott". Subsequent to his decision to leave the series after some ten years, due to his health, the BBC's decision to replace him with a younger man, Peter Sissons Question Time in 1989 seemed a mistake on both sides. Day later regretted abandoning the programme.

His awards include: Guild of TV Producers and Directors Award, Personality of the Year, 1957; the Richard Dimbleby Award for factual television, 1974; the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Question Time in 1980; the Royal Television Society Judges' Award for 30 years in TV journalism, 1985. He was knighted in the New Year's Honours, 1981. Tise Vahimagi robin day : definition of robin day and synonyms of robin day (English) Early life and education He was the son of a telephone engineer who became telephone manager at Gloucester . Day attended Brentwood School from 1934 to 1938, [2] briefly attended The Crypt School, Gloucester and later Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight . War service He served with the army in east Africa, where he reached the rank of Captain but was demoted to Lieutenant as part of a cull of rear-echelon jobs. University and the Bar After the war Day attended St Edmund Hall, Oxford and, while a student, was elected president of the Oxford Union debating society.

Day also took part in a debating tour of the United States, run by the English-Speaking Union . He was called to the Bar in 1952, but practised only briefly. In his memoirs he recorded that he secured the acquittal of a lorry-driver accused of indecent exposure by persuading the magistrates that the man had been "shaking the drops from his person" after urinating, and by getting the man's young wife to testify, wearing a tight sweater, that she and her husband enjoyed a healthy love life. Media Day spent almost his entire career in journalism. He rose to prominence on the new Independent Television News (ITN) from 1955, when he was the first British journalist to interview Egypt's President Nasser after the Suez Crisis . On television, he presented Panorama and chaired Question Time (1979–89), and on radio was presenter of The World at One from 1979 to 1987. His incisive and sometimes - by the standards of the day - abrasive interviewing style, together with his heavy-rimmed spectacles and trademark bow tie , made him an instantly recognisable and frequently impersonated figure over five decades.

He became known in British broadcasting as 'the Grand Inquisitor' for his abrasive interviewing of politicians, a style out of keeping with the British media's culture of deference to authority that prevailed during the early days of his career. In 1958 he interviewed Prime Minister Harold Macmillan , in what the Daily Express called: "the most vigorous cross-examination a prime minister has been subjected to in public". The interview turned Macmillan into a television personality, and was probably the first time that British television became a serious part of the political process. In the early 1970s, Day was involved on BBC Radio , where he proved an innovator with It's Your Line (1970–76). This was a national phone-in programme that enabled ordinary people, for the first time, to put questions directly to the prime minister and other politicians (it later spawned Election Call). He also presented The World At One , from 1979 to 1987. In 1981, he was knighted for his services to broadcasting. He was a regular fixture on all BBC Election Night programmes from the 1960s until 1987.

After leaving Question Time, he moved to the new satellite service BSB where he presented the weekly political discussion programme Now Sir Robin. When BSB merged with Sky Television, the programme continued to be broadcast on Sky News for a while. On the night of the 1992 General Election , Day resumed his role as interviewer, this time on ITN's Election Night coverage, broadcast on ITV. In the mid-90s, he regularly contributed to the lunchtime Channel Four political programme Around the House and also presented Central Lobby for Central TV, the ITV franchise in the Midlands. The show was sometimes broadcast at the same time as his old programme, Question Time was being shown on BBC One.

In October 1982, during an interview with the Conservative Secretary of State for Defence John Nott , pursuing cuts in defence expenditure, he posed the question: "But why should the public, on this issue, as regards the future of the Royal Navy, believe you, a transient, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician, [a reference to Nott's announcement that he was to stand down at the next General Election ] rather than a senior officer of many years?" Nott rose, removed his microphone, and said "I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview. Really, it's ridiculous" and walked off the set. Nott's autobiography in 2003 was called Here Today Gone Tomorrow: Recollections of an Errant Politician. For 25 years he campaigned tirelessly, and eventually successfully, for the televising of parliament - not in the interests of television, but of parliament itself. He claimed that he was the first to present the detailed arguments in favour, in a Hansard Society paper in 1963.

[3] Monty Python's Flying Circus often used Day as a reference, including the 'Eddie Baby' sketch in which John Cleese turns to the camera and states: 'Robin Day's got a hedgehog called Frank.' In another sketch, Eric Idle said he was able to return his 'Robin Day tie' to Harrod's . He was also spoofed (as "Robin Yad") on The Goodies' episode Saturday Night Grease . Day appeared as himself on an instalment of the Morecambe & Wise show, in which he berates Ernie Wise in character. Then Eric Morecambe, acting as a TV presenter, says, "Sadly, we've come to the end of today's "Friendly Discussion with Robin Day." Day, and the Question Time programme were also satirized on an episode of Not the Nine O'Clock News, with Griff Rhys Jones as Day. He was also frequently lampooned by the satirical TV programmme Spitting Image . In this, his most famous examples of lampoonery were his interviews with the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and how she would always give an answer somewhat vague to the question, and his breathing difficulties which affected him later in life.

"My name is Robin (deep breath) Day!" Day published two autobiographies; 'Day by Day' in 1975 and 'Grand Inquisitor' in 1989. Politics In the 1959 General Election he stood as a Liberal Party candidate for Hereford but failed to win. Personal life In 1965, Day married Katherine Ainslie, an Australian law don at St Anne's College, Oxford , and they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 1986. One of the tragedies of his life was that his elder son never fully recovered from the effects of multiple skull fractures he sustained in a childhood fall. In the 1980s, Day had a coronary bypass, and he suffered from breathing problems that were often evident when he was on the air. He had always fought against a tendency to put on weight. As an undergraduate, he weighed 17 st 0 lb (108 kg; 238 lb), and claimed that, in the course of his life, he had succeeded in losing more weight than any other person. Day had problems relating to women.

The broadcaster Joan Bakewell recalled that whilst he was professional when in the office: "Socially he was a menace. There was no subtlety in his manner: at office parties he would attack head on. 'Do the men you interview fancy you? Do they stare at your legs? Do they stare at your breasts? Do you sleep with many of them?' ... Whenever he loomed in sight, I made myself scarce" [4] His funeral was a cremation service at Mortlake Crematorium. His ashes are interred near the south door of Whitchurch Canonicorum parish church in Dorset. The memorial stone has the words: "In loving memory of Sir Robin Day the Grand Inquisitor" upon it. References ^ List of Old Brentwoods Retrieved 10 March 2009 ^ Robin Day, (1963) The Case for Televising Parliament (London: Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government) ^ Joan Bakewell The Centre of the Bed: An Autobiography, 2003, Sceptre, p234-5. External links

Question: Who walked out of an interview with Robin Day in 1982 about defence cuts after the Falklands War?
Answer: JOHN NOTT